Time to play catch up...

It seems like there is never enough time in the day to catch up over here!!!! I am going to do my best now to see how far I can get before we head out to a dinner.

Ok... so back to the teasers from Friday...

Thursday was Amy's birthday so we took her out for the evening. We went to Connaught place which is the direct center of Delhi. It is just a big shopping center and has high end shops. We took taxi cabs for the first time and it was CRAZY!!! Nothing like being right at eye level with the bazillion cars, motorcycles, tuk tuk's etc! Chinmoi was in our cab and he convinced the driver to turn on some Hindi music... nothing like zooming through the crowded streets of Delhi with Hindi techno music blasting! We first went to the Rodeo bar for a drink... it is cowboy themed and there is nothing more strange than seeing Indian waiters wearing traditional "old west" clothes. The seats at the bar are actual saddles!!!! I decided to be brave and had a Kiwi Margarita. on Thursday, all I had eaten was three bananas and some rice but I was feeling much better. It was alot of fun and Amy was really pleased to be showered with such attention for her special day. After the rodeo bar we walked over to a REALLY cool restaurant called "Bonsai." We sat outside next to this beautiful fountain. It was FREEZING outside and JErry was really sweet and took off his coat to give to me! Chivalry is still alive! :) I ordered simply and got a grilled paneer tikka sandwish (grilled cheese for all you non-Indian peeps). I ate about half of it and then gave up... my stomach started to hurt again. Suddenly Amy got up and ran to the bathroom... looks like Delhi belly has claimed another :( Even Jerry was saying that his stomach hurt... we've all been popping pepto like it was candy! When we went to leave the bar, we were walking to get cabs when all of the sudden.... gurgle, gurle! :( Luckily Natasha was there and she called out to Ray that I needed a restroom and QUICK and luckily there was a McDonalds there! It was a close call :( Afterwards I felt fine though :) back at the hotel, there was a knock at the door. Jerry and Dan were standing there with little grins on their faces... they held out a card and a beautiful shawl. They gave me an early birthday card and gift!!! Funny how my work can't even remember my birthday and yet these two strangers did! :) It was really sweet and the card is awesome! I was really flattered!!!!



On Friday we were one man down... Amy didn't come down in the morning and had opted to stay back at the hotel. :( poor thing. Natasha ended up coming to our site to help out and it was great having her there! Jerry had bought a shirt the day before and it phonetically spelled out "superstar." (soo-per-star). At one point on the build he covered up the "p" and I read it aloud... SEWER STAR!!!! Hahahahahaha! Nice... gotta love the fact that we are practically hanging out in the sewer all day! :) Today on the site, there were a lot more guys around and they would just stand there and stare at me. Jerry even started calling me "Ms. Bawana." They have the most intense stare here and even when I would look at them they would not glance away. i spent the entire day moving bricks! From 9-3:30 I carried bricks non-stop (well, except for breaks:)). Dan was working on digging out the septic tank and it was too tight in there to help out. The sewer is continuing to slowly sleep into our trench in the front and we have now labeled it "Bawana black gold... the finest materials in Bawana!" YUCK! At lunch, some of the women from Chetnalaya came and sold jewelry that they had made. All of the proceeds go back into helping the womens programs in Chetnalaya. Sujata came over and grabbed my arm and pulled me into the office. she brought over one of the other women who speaks better english and she said "amy is sick but you must buy her some jewelry, she will be so sad if she learns that you all were able to buy great things but she was home sick." It was really sweet. I bought a few things and went back to Sujata to let her pick out which one she thought woule be best for Amy. In the afternoon, some people on my team were talking about how they feel frustrated that the adults in the neighborhood just come around and watch us work. I think I even heard the word lazy. Me, being the eternal social worker began to bust out my speech on why people are apathetic and disempowered :) About an hour before we finished, I had climbed up on the brick pile in the alley to hand some bricks from the back. There was a group of about 6 children standing there watching. They all have snotty noses, no shoes and a few didn't have pants. One of them reached down and handed me a brick. He must have been about 5 years old. I looked up at his snot covered face and said "thanks" with a big smile and he broke into the biggest smile I'd ever seen. Next thing you know, all 6 children have scrambled up on the pile and are handing me bricks. they would hand me one and when I would look up at there eyes and smile, they would be SO excited! PRetty quickly they learned how many bricks we each carried (5 for me, 6 for Natasha and 7 for Jerry) and would stack them up for us while we were carrying them down the street to the site. All that work just to receive a smile from one of us. In that moment, I remembered why I work with children at home... they are the future... the hope, the eagerness and they keep it simple... working for a smile :) My heart was very touched.

At dinner I told Amy the story about Sujata and the bracelet and she was really grateful. I gave her the bracelet and she just kept smiling and said "I can't believe how special everyone here is making me feel." After dinner, a few of us walked up to the main street. Before even going 10 feet poor Liam had almost been hit by 2 different motorcycles. He said "that's it, I am turning around and going home!" We ended up at a cafe overlooking the street. After that we walked to this stall that sold Puma T-shirts for $3. I wanted to get a long sleeve t-shirt because my arms were COMPLETELY torn up from carrying the bricks. We went to bed at about 10 because we had to be up SUPER early to leave for the Taj Mahal.


Ok, so let me take a moment to vent about our terrible Habitat host here in India. I thought Josh would be super cool because he is a social worker... not the case! He is the laziest host I have ever seen! He has never come to the site with us. He has never come to the hotel, he has never been with us on an outing... nothing! Well, on Friday he did actually come out with us to the site. At lunchtime, my camera freaked out and the lens wouldn't close. There is so much dirt and grime in there that it kept getting stuck. Jerry fixed it the first time and Ray fixed it the 2nd. I spoke to Josh about it and he said we would find a place to fix it on the way back to the hotel. For a moment, I thought "hmmm... maybe I've misjudged him and he's really ok." i was really freaked out about getting it fixed because we are supposed to go to the Taj tomorrow and I can't have a broken camera!!!!!!! When the bus let us off on the street and we began our walk to the hotel, I reminded him and he said "yep, on the way." I walked with him and we talked about child development. We get to the hotel and I bring it up again. He starts talking to the bellhop about it and then Josh turns to me and says "well, you have a team member on your team that speaks Hindi so he can take you later to the place up the street." I was SUPER pissed! First of all, Chinmoi paid to come on this trip, it is not his responsibility to have to help me with this... that is the job of the host. Second of all, Josh has not done a single thing this entire week and that is UBER uncool! So there I was with a broken camera and I said "Josh, that is unacceptable, Chinmoi has a cold and does not need to be taking me out at night to help me find a camera repairshop." Josh said "ok, go upstairs for 10 minutes to freshen up and then we will go." I knew he was blowing me off. I came upstairs, vented to Natasha and then went back downstairs in my work clothes, full expecting to see Josh gone. He was there with Ray arguing about the hotel bill. Josh had negotiated a pretty good deal here but had forgotten some important details. I sat down, knowing full well that Josh had seen me and not acknowledged me. 20 minutes later Chinmoi came in from outside and asked why I was sitting there. I explained it to him and bless his heart he said "ok, let's go, I will take you." I owe him a huge debt! We walked to this black market where they sold EVERYTHING! Phones, computers, you name it. We asked a bunch of people but no camera repairmen. :( Looks like I will have to rely on prayers alone!

Ok, gotta go get some dinner but I will try to catch up with you all later and I can't wait to tell you about the Taj!!!!